Eye make-up compositions, including mascara, are significant products in the cosmetics market. Mascara enhances the beauty of the wearer by coating the eye lashes, or in some instances eyebrows, with color.
In spite of their beauty enhancing characteristics, conventional eye make-up preparations have been criticized for their failure to produce the desired effects during long periods of wear. Problems such as staining and smearing, commonly referred to as smudging, and flaking of the mascara from the eyelashes are well known. Even where longevity has been improved, such compositions also are known to be difficult to completely remove from the delicate eye area. An eye makeup composition conceptually having significantly superior wear life, yet, easy removability with soap and water would be very desirable.
Eye makeup compositions comprising polymeric emulsions in order to eliminate smudging are well known in the art and typically include water-insoluble polymers, also referred to as latexes. Such compositions including eye shadows as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,572, Henrich, issued Feb. 1, 1972; and mascaras as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,031, Murui et al., issued Dec. 27, 1983; and European Patent Application (EPA) 0568035, published Nov. 3, 1993. These compositions include plasticizers or solvents to assist in forming films using said latexes. These compositions are known to contain thickeners to adjust the viscosity of the composition. Said thickeners include water-soluble and water-swellable polymers, typically known for such use in the cosmetic art.
In a different embodiment of the above concept is disclosed in Patent Cooperation Treaty application WO 94/17775, published Aug. 18, 1994. The invention disclosed therein includes mascara compositions comprising water-based silicone elastomeric latex, emulsions as opposed to "water-based" acrylic polymers. Longer wear and durability is attributed to the used of the elastomeric latex as it is more compatible with the rest of the compositional matrix than the acrylic polymers.
Other compositions known in the art which seek to avoid the combination of plasticizers and insoluble-polymer are exemplified in EPO 0530084, published Mar. 3, 1993. This application discloses compositions comprising a dispersed phase and a dispersant phase, the dispersant phase containing at least one water-soluble polymer and the dispersed phase containing at least 50% wax. Said composition may contain other materials routinely used in cosmetic compositions including water-insoluble polymers.
Surprisingly, it has been found that the combination of water-insoluble polymeric materials in an aqueous emulsion and water-soluble, film-forming polymers provides mascara compositions that have superior wear and are removable with soap and water. These mascara compositions can be fabricated in a multitude of forms, such as creams, pastes and solids. Preferably the compositions of the present invention are water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions.